Pakistan's history rotting in a loo

October 15, 2009 14:46 IST

The Sindh assembly administration appears to care the least about keeping important documents and historical records concerning the House proceedings intact and secure.

Historical records such as the 'power documents' that the last Governor General of India Lord Mountbatten had given to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, which confirms the transfer of powers from the British to the Pakistani leadership, are rotting inside the Sindh assembly's toilet.

Several other important documents including the details of the last 12 assembly sessions are stocked one upon another in washrooms and in the open inside the assembly premises.

The documents are in pitiable condition after suffering several attacks from termites and other insects, as the storerooms have not been fumigated with insecticides for years.

Assembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro refused to comment over such carelessness on part of the Sindh assembly administration.

Sindh assembly secretary Hadi Bukhsh Buriro, however, clarified that the documents have been kept in the open and in washrooms temporarily, as construction work was going on in the assembly building.

'There is construction work going on inside the building so we had kept the records outside and after the work is completed, it will be kept back in the archives room,' The Daily Times quoted Buriro, as saying.

He said that the documents were kept unattended outside the archive room only for a day, but assembly staff claimed that the historical files were lying there for the past many days.